Case Number 00622

RAISING THE MAMMOTH

The Charge

It's big, it's furry and it's been buried in ice for 20,000 years.

Opening Statement

The Discovery Channel co-funded this expedition to find the Jarkov Mammoth,
so named after the Siberian family who found the tusks of the animal and lead
the explorers to its location. The channel also produced this documentary, which
is narrated by actor Jeff Bridges.

The Evidence

Originally aired in March of 2000, Raising The Mammoth tells the tale
of Bernard Buigues and the difficulties he went through to raise the woolly
mammoth out of its long-term permafrost grave.

From utilizing his contacts on the Siberian front, to hunting down and
finding the resting place of the Jarkov Mammoth. To the first attempt at
bringing the long extinct creature up from the depths of time to their second
attempt, a full year later, the cameras of the Discovery channel are there.

The documentary ably captures the sense of history and grim determination
that Buigues, along with his team, work with. The movie also gives the feeling
of how difficult life must be in the Siberian plain. Clearly, this is one of the
harshest places in the world to merely exist, let alone work and live with a
family. The documentary does an excellent job of showing the intense sense of
desperation in which the entire crew worked. The whole point of toiling in the
fall when it was still very cold, as opposed to going for it in the warmer,
summer season, was raising the mammoth intact and frozen so that the carcass
would not melt and deteriorate. In fact, the strongest sequence in the
documentary is the one that chronicles the danger filled, feverish work leading
up to a massive 26 hour storm that destroyed the encampment and forced Buigues
to put off his goal for another year. It is when the feature deals with these
harsh realities (and the whole man against the elements angle) that it excels,
and makes for compelling viewing.

Another area in which Raising The Mammoth is quite strong is when it
shows the true joy and satisfaction of discovery. The impact of touching and
smelling, that which has not been seen by man in over 20,000 years is an
undeniably powerful image. A powerful image that Raising The Mammoth does
justice by. To watch the two expedition specialists, Dick Mol and Dr. Larry
Agenbroad, run their fingers though the hair of the partially unearthed woolly
mammoth is to see these men experiencing their life's work finally being
realized. Once more, powerful stuff.

Being a television production, Raising The Mammoth was shot in the
1.33:1 aspect ratio and that is what is presented here. It's a pretty good image
that handles the extreme whites of the Siberian plains with ease. Detail and
contrast is strong with there being little in the way of shimmer or pixel
breakup. There is crispness to the image that highlights the harsh nature of the
surroundings in which most of the film takes place. The picture is also quite
strong when the crew ventures to the shadow filled ice caves of Khatanga where
the Jarkov Mammoth will be stored and examined.

The sound is listed simply as Stereo Audio. For what it is, it is fairly
serviceable. Jeff Bridges' narration comes through clear but on the whole the
audio has a kind of hollowness to it. It is nothing that distracts or takes away
from the documentary, it is just kind of, well, there. On the plus side, there
is no background distortion or hiss that I could make out.

On the extras side there is more here than I would have expected but not as
much as I would have liked. There are biographies of the scientists Mol and
Agenbroad, as well as one for the lead explorer Buigues. In addition to that
there is a very informative mammoth timeline, plus the disc has a text
conversation with Bernard Buigues. The extras are closed out with a mammoth
fact-file.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

My main gripe with the disc is when you are doing something for DVD,
especially something that is as informative and fact filled as Raising The
Mammoth and you don't utilize the format to its fullest extent, well the
audience is not being well served.

This is an expedition that was spread out over a couple of years; surely
there must have been literally hours of footage shot. I find it hard to believe
that with all that potential footage in the can, all they found useable was 91
minutes worth.

That ties into my second gripe. Working on the assumption that there is more
footage available, it drives me crazy to watch a television documentary on home
video and know there is going to be a break in the action every 13 minutes or
so. Besides having the obvious break, I then have to sit through the brief recap
as the next segment starts. If Artisan really wanted to do this right, they
would have reedited the documentary so it flowed more like a complete movie. If
I'm not going to get anything special when I pick up a disc like this, I don't
see any reason why I should not just pass it by on the shelf and be content with
a videotaped copy right off of the old VCR.

Closing Statement

Raising The Mammoth is science presented in an exciting and gripping
fashion. While I had some problems with its home video incarnation, I found the
documentary to be both interesting and well produced. I cannot, however, imagine
watching it over again anytime soon. I'm glad I saw it but think this is best
left as a different kind of rental.

On the other hand, as a teaching tool, Raising The Mammoth would be
ideal classroom material. It is recommended for purchase in that regard.

The Verdict

Artisan is congratulated by the court for bringing such diverse material to
the world of DVD. They are asked however to put additional thought and effort
into making it a more creative experience and one that takes full advantage of
the interactive aspects of the medium. That is all I've got. Case dismissed.